thought you all might get a kick out of this one.....

most of the birthday celebration is about the child.... but secretly, it's a little about mom.
another year with your child, all they have learned, changes, highlights, some sort of feeling of accomplishment, even if it's only minor, thankfulness for God's goodness and provision of another year of life.

so this milestone for jonah approaches and now has come and gone and of course it brings constantly to mind, sweet Mimi! Jonah's birth mother, the woman who selflessly gave up her boys so that they would have a hope of life.
a life different from the one she lived. she wanted them. she adored them. she gave her life for them.
she loved them enough to think more of them than herself.

in a day filled with so much joy and thankfulness, my heart has been heavy and overwhelmed with thoughts of what today must be life for her..... her first birthday away from jonah, not knowing where her boys are, what their life is like, are they safe, do they miss her, are they happy, are they loved?

can you imagine it? loving your children, giving them up, and then not knowing! isn't it more than you could bear....

so my prayer, for our dear birth mother, thousands of miles away from denver is...
that the Lord of all peace and comfort is with you, reminding you, surrounding you with His love, showing you that even now, He alone is faithful. He has answered your prayers.... they are loved!

it was a great day. i think jonah loved every minute of it.... he woke up and opened presents. and quickly said, shrugging his shoulders "big cake?"
kinda like, mom, all i said i wanted was a big cake....
and well, that's he got. we have enough for everyone so come on over.

our big slide was a huge hit. lots of laughs, tons of joy!
shiro and enjira always a favorite.
big pieces of cake.....
and some of the people that have loved and prayed for jonah long before he was jonah yonan.
it was a priceless night, to share with some family and friends-

times like this makes us miss all the yonans that feel so very far away!
hugs and love to you all.
































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september 2nd is a special day.... jonah yonan turns five! and we get to celebrate his birthday with him. so we are going big. why not right? we've missed the 4 that got him to this point so we're renting a 16 foot water slide and inviting some of jonah's people.

we've been talking about the menu.... "big cake" he keeps telling me!
shire( ethiopian favorite), oatmeal, corn, tomatoes.... interesting menu?

but isn't that kids. dixon and abigail have the same birthday. for their last birthday we had chili and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. gotta do what ya gotta do!

well this sweetie is not quite a baby;but fitsum thought she was.
and well fitsum just loves loves babies. he couldn't give enough love to sydney and baby charlie. i often think these little cousins will never remember a time when the yonan's didn't have jonah and fits. isn't that remarkable to think about!

this is probably way too much information...... but those of you who even care to read this at this point need to know that Fits has FINALLY had a solid poop.
yep, this is BIG stuff.
after sitting for hours a day, on the potty, swollen stomach, blowout city, all the work i've being doing to "makeover" his diet...... it's working.

this is a huge encouragement..... my first big coup as fitsum yonan's mom.

after almost 2 months of being home, now chicken pox free, we have finally seen our cousins.
what a happy reunion it was. boy, did the kids ever miss them!
hard work to get this photo... can't you tell?

quite frankly jonah is learning ALOT!
* most americans have dogs- BIG ONES!
* usually its good to say "please" and "thank you"
*if you put clothes down the chute inside out they come up inside out
*toilet seats go up!
*daddy comes home every night
*there is always enough food
*abigail is 7, jonah is 4- we are not the same age
*composting is fun and it's my job.
*everyone exchanges hugs and kisses at bedtime-even the girls!

one of the sweetest blessings of the last 5 weeks has been watching Jonah and Fits love each other. i think being in a large group setting for six months really affected their relationship. having so many other options, sleeping separately, eating apart, having lots of peers, enabled them to basically live separately. when they began there time at the care center fits wasn't really even talking and so their relationship wasn't very developed.

but now...such tender sweetness. jonah has also seen the big three loving on fits and attend to his needs and he has learned what his job as big brother should look like. this has been a highlight of these last days together.

well, i've been away for a while i know. you'll be happy i was. somedays just aren't pretty and they are just hard to make them funny at all.

today. nope can't even go there.....

but i will say. i want to be sanctified- it's never fun to get there, or at least i don't think it would be or should i say it's not for me. but it has to be the hope for these days.

that i will be able to rest in just who the Lord is, and that is all that will matter.
that joy will be found and complete in just knowing HIm.
that He is in control.
that i am loved by Him, he gave everything so that i would know Him.

He's not asleep.

a grand day!
today, the banner arrived.... popsie sent his banner to the kids so that they could hang it on their tent. AND the kids harvested their first red tomatoes.
there has already been talk of opening up a farm stand, with the abundance of tomatoes.
is this sounding familiar?
hmmmm.








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jonah has been a bit reluctant to use english for the most part, or he will say it in amharic and then english.
tonight during our family time
jonah just bursts out....."thank you for jesus!"

i think that is a pretty great first sentence, don't you?

tonight in the kitchen we were cleaning up together. jonah was helping- he is an awesome helper, certainly has a servants heart.

he was helping madeleiene and dixon do something and they were giving him some direction and he quickly replied "yes sir!"

so funny to see the things he picks up.

we have not encouraged "yes sir" but he hears the others say it and quickly applied it to all directions given and by anyone.

next thing you know they'll have him saying "yes your highness", "yes captain", "yes, boss"

we got to keep a watch on this thing, it could get out of control fast.

aunt megan blessed her youngest nephew with a whole loaf of white dabo.....
and well he went crazy wild. screaming, giggling, talking in some foreign language/amharic, and singing his favorite "dabo"song.
it was joy in the purest form.

do you think i let him eat the whole loaf?







.

our first niece! we have loved hannah for ten years now and i do have to say i think that the way we felt about hannah sealed the deal on our future. matt and i loved hannah so much, our hearts overflowed for her. she has never lived close by, so we don't share all those day to day memories. but from the time hannah was born we loved her more than anyone else kids we knew. something about nieces and now nephews.

HB. happy tenth birthday!
we have delighted in watching you grow and change.
you are loved!

in so many ways it is hard to believe it's been a month since we have been home with the boys. in other ways it seems like we have never been without them. we do feel complete! it is so comforting to count your kids and have them all there with you, not just in your mind. there is a certain amount of peace that is present when you you are at the end of this kind of journey, when the longing is over.

we have a suburban with 2 benches = 6 seats in the back
i'll tell you, many time in the last month i have looked back at the kids and that one empty seat calls out to me.
flashing through my mind are all those kids we left behind, especially all the lovies at ahope!

who knows.... we never want to get too comfortable. but let's give it a school year. that should put things in perspective!

today, i was just sitting at the table all the kids around me.....
jonah was drawing and abigail was writing a letter. there were a few items on the table all things that needed to have some sort of attention given. you know that pile, right?

well jonah, sees something that interests him.... it was the brochure from hannah's hope, the care center where he lived for the last 6 months. i am totally oblivious to what he is doing until the moment when he starts saying "genet, genet, genet!" with excitement and emotion. he recognised a photo on the brochure and it was genet cuddling a child. Genet was the dear women who lovingly cared for both of the boys during their stay and she certainly holds a very large spot in their hearts, with reason, she is quite dear.

and then jonah is lost in is own mind..... that far off look overcomes him and he is gone.
do i know those words...."come back.... come back to me!"
nope don't know those words.
" what are you thinking? it's ok to feel sad!" nope don't know those either.
"you did have another life, you aren't crazy it did happen" nope not those either.

so what do you do?
well you just say "a-wel-da-halo"/i love you! and you sit together and look at the pictures to prove it did happen and to remember the place that made it possible to be together and wait until we can share what we are thinking and communicate about these life changing things that this little 4 year old is dealing with all alone in his mind.

pray for jonah!

every night at dinner we try to play our ethiopian music. it makes the kids so happy they just love it.
these are the pictures of them dancing in their seats- doing a very common ethiopian worship dance.
it is so cute- i wish everyone could see it. sadly one of the only times we can get them to do it is in their high chairs at the table.

tomorrow is the first of many "update" visits with the social worker; the beginning of many many many more and of course that means lots of PAPERWORK. goody goody gum drops- i love filling out paperwork.
so matt and i will go to be tonight praying....
1. that fits doesn't have one of his dabo-pointing to his mouth like he has never been fed, chase you with a plate tantrums
2.the kids don't tell all of our family secrets
3. that there is no jumping off the roof to the tramp or something else dangerous ( last time she was here, we looked out the window and abigail had a rope tied around dixons neck and was riding him like a horse while jumping on the tramp. and we still were APPROVED, amazing!)

our beautiful girls.... not looking so great right now!
can you say covered.... i mean covered in chicken pox.
we can certainly say they have had them, no doubt about it.

they are finally feeling better. we are so thankful- we have never seen them that sick.
still no sign for dixon. we are all really hoping that he gets it soon. he is actually anxious to get it because he thinks that he will be able to have ice cream for lunch and drink his fill of cola.

as these days start and end, my mind just keeps going back to all the women before me....
the pilgrim mothers, the pioneer mama's, indian sues out on the plains...
how did they make it?

from sun up to sun down how did they keep their sick kids alive, make meals, do laundry,
respond to email, and answer the phone?

i need a spa day..... any chance this might be coming my way!

Bribe with donuts!

Matt resorted to bribing abigail with a krispy kreme donut to get her to sink herself in the bath last night. it worked.
(aunt megan, brought over donuts last night in hopes of brightening the day)

outbreak #4 of the famous ethiopian chicken pox!

abigail camille yonan has fallen to the pox- she is high with fever.
and we are praying it will be a fast episode.

madeleine gray is ALL poxed out- poor thing, or should we say rudolph the red nose reindeer.
yep a big one right on the end of her nose. not good for a 12 year olds self esteem.

dixon tommorow maybe and then wouldn't we have a funny picture.

well, we yonan's have been infested with flying things lately.
so we have resorted to yes, fly paper.

NO JOKE! fly paper.

have a good laugh on us.

yep.... it's arrived!!!!
madeleine the great care taker of jonah has finally got the spots.
we are glad that we are progressing along here with checking off this box of childhood illness that we have tried
to get for years.

just praying that the other 2 come down quickly.

the  boys are stripping before they even reach the bath tub, screaming all the way- and they never stop smiling the entire bath. wish everyone could see this joy. and to think we couldn't even get them to sit in the bath tub less than a month ago!

we encourage you to watch this video. so much of what it shows gives testimony to how we have felt about our time in Ethiopia. we have so much in america, don't get me wrong, i'm the girl that sang "God bless America" upon my return home, but we have to think everyday and tell ourselves the truth about where does joy come from? how do we find joy?

it can't be based on circumstance.... it can't! there just would be no hope to ever have joy.

our joy and hope is in the one who came to save us.... matt and amanda, the lost. Jesus came to earth and gave His life to show us how to know the Father. we don't have to have organized closets, obedient children, money in the bank, a wheat free diet, a dog that sits on command, or any other sign of success, we just have to trust that He is the one that saves us from our sin and gives us a future with Him for eternity.

that's joy!

1. the sound the car makes when it unlocks.

just a normal day at the downing house pool (a local house donated for ministry with a pool), a few moms meet there for some pool time in a low key environment. i was in the pool and this mom that i had not met and i started talking. she had also adopted from ethiopia. she asked what agency we used... i said "all gods children!"

can you see the love in his eyes?

not sure if he meant it but tonight.....

huge huge huge night for these boys.... 

NOPE, never does! 

wow. this is a big one!

when the boys came home, we quickly started playing the one and only cd that we had from ethiopia. it was a sort of traditional praise music. the kids and i played it every day for months as we waited for "our missing parts". we certainly did have a favorite song, although never knowing the meaning, it was a heartfelt song with an upbeat tempo.

low and behold...... guess who knows every single word and even adds in the drum beats?
yep, jonah yonan!
isn't that amazing..... as we were pining for him in ethiopia he was listening to "our song".

why are we surprised..... i have no idea. this was His story for our family before time, but it's oh so sweet to be the recipient of gifts like this dear boy singing his heart out(in amharic), Lord willing truths that are already written on his heart.
thank you Lord, for you are good. ps.... at the end when he starts whispering.... do you think this might be because the song talks about making a latte... maybe he'll be my next barista!

sometimes, when the boys get a foggy look in their eyes, and it is obvious that they aren't "here"- i can't help but wonder what they are thinking. 

I thought this would be fun for you to see. It's a slideshow of the photos of when my mom, dad & brothers got to the airport. I hope you enjoy it. Dixon

wish you all could have been there today as Jonah met George. they sat down right away on the same chair and started talking; george asking questions and jonah answering. mind you they do NOT speak the same language. what could be better? and sweet molly gray loved up fitsum with too many kisses to count.

the screaming that is.....

my sweet dixon, who was a big catalyst for this adoption and cheerleader through the process, while passing me in the kitchen

children all over africa are starving.... did fitsum eat all of their food?

BUBBLES, BUBBLES and more BUBBLES! is there anything that is better for kids; especially when you don't have to share with 40 other young children. We are having fun playing and exploring daily life together. Chicken pox are

on the mend, and last night was our first night of 9 hours of sleep. Amazing what that will do for a gal!

I ALWAYS sit my little ones on the counter. Against many complaints, advice and suggestions I have always done it this way... and once more my counter is FULL!

After 30 hours of travel (almost to the minute), we are home. We'll update soon....but you can click under gallery at the top right to see our photo album. When you click it takes you to another site and choose the "Ethiopia Trip" album.

M

Today was better. We are on our way to the airport in just 30 minutes. We are very excited. It was sunny nearly all day. We mainly stayed at the hotel but had a very nice visit with Samuel (pronounced samwell). This is the man whose agency partners with ours to bring kids to better places. He gave us a tour of his orphanage. It was a blessing.

Fits is doing a bit better but is holding out on eating for the most part. Nothing serious. Just being willful.

We are thankful that today has come.

#1 Pox Mania- all over Fits’s face this morning:), very sad.

#2 Meeting had a big surprise…Mesfin the birth dad, did a surprise drop by. Yep! We were shocked! Meeting was extremely emotional, but in all things the Lord was there in big ways. Mimi, the birth mom, prayed over the boys and she shared their stories, dreams and history. She is truly AMAZING. We will have no trouble loving her and sharing her goodness with our boys. The boys handled all of this amazingly.

#3 When asked why they chose the name Yonas, Mesfin said “well, because I love the story of Jonah in the Bible!” Of course, I burst out crying because of the 3 names that have the same meaning as Yonas in English, we chose Jonah. See what I mean? Blessing upon blessing despite the heartbreak and drama.

We are stretched and tired. We’ll never be the same but we’re ready to be home. Our kids, normal food, no nighttime chanting (praise Jesus), normal shower- we’ll share more, my kids, clean pj’s. God bless America land that I love! Can’t wait to share it all!

Did I mention I miss my three yo yo’s?

Love overflowing,

Amanda and Co.

Feels like weeks since home. Huge thunderstorms today. Woke up to the sound of rain and was mostly rain all day. I thought Fits was sleeping so great, finally I had to get him up. When I went in, his eyelids were sealed shut. Yep, joy. No washed clothes, no power, rain everywhere. The day began with, wow, how do we do this.

Well, the few spots we saw on Fits, multiplied in the night. And yep, you guessed it; we have full blown chicken pox. Many of you know I’ve been trying to give my kids the pox for years. Looks it will be a bonding thing for the Yonan Five.

Despite that the boys are wonderful; they are most likely not 2 and 4. But won’t that be fun to find out for sure.

I left the boys with Matt at HH for a while. And when I returned Fits was at the gate saying” momma”. That makes today a perfect day. Thank you for praying for us. This is our God that does these breath taking things, over and over and over.

Tomorrow is Birth Mother day. Pray for her. Fits looks like a train ran over his sweet face and I know it will break her heart.

Yonan 3, I adore you!

Xoxo from the land of “the lion of Judah”

Amanda and Co.

PS. Our room has about 10 spots...it's leaking from the roof. We might need an arc come morning!

Today was another milestone as we went to the Embassy and a one minute meeting took over two hours. Not terrible accept that Fits is a little sick. We have him on antibiotics and giving him a lot of TLC.

(Matt and Amanda no longer have internet access, so there will probably be no more pictures).

All for now.

We meet the BIG family 1PM Ethiopian time on Wed. That makes it 4Am Denver, 3AM Pacific, 6AM Eastern. We would covet your prayers for this meeting.

Grace and Peace

A highlight of the day was watching Jonah give out pens to boys on the street near the Embassy. He is truly a giver. So we spent the rest of the day playing in the courtyard of the hotel. Jonah and I played soccer while Fits clung to Amanda. After that, we ate dinner and Jonah ate a hoover. It was impressive.

At bathtime, well it was special. I think it was the first real bath for them. Jonah didn't want to sit down at first. But once they relaxed they had so much fun. Fits giggled so hard I thought he was going to cry. At bedtime we watched a VeggieTale video and off to bed. And I tell the truth, they were asleep in 90 seconds. Jonah likes to sleep with the covers over his head. It's cute.

Tomorrow is "going to the market day".

Today – we had a surprise! So, just as I was ordering our morning coffee downstairs, Adana – a nice man here – came up to me with a paper that had my name on it. It was a note from Almaz, the director of Hannah’s Hope. At the top was quickly written, “meet us downstairs at 2:30 to meet your boys….”

Yep, that was it. Can you believe it? We weren’t expecting this meeting until Monday mid-day. We did plan to go to church with Ephraim our driver, so after a quick lunch and a HUGE rain storm we headed back to meet the group.

Of course the biggest rain storm to ever hit Addis struck as we were heading back and we were late for our meeting time. We quickly shuffled off to HH.

They brought Jonah in to us, he immediately sat in Matt’s lap. Then we headed down to meet Fitsum, who was reluctant to meet us. His favorite “special mother” Genet, quickly apologized for his lack of hospitality and willingness to take the cues given, and we of course gave many allowance for this 2 year- old, afro-maniac! He is the cutest darn thing you have EVER seen. He already knows how to give dirty looks and can get his way in any situation, usually that means FOOD. Yep, loves it and is hardly without it. When one is given he wants 2! Watch out!

We visited for 2 hours and headed back to the hotel. Fitsum was happy to see us go.

But sweet Jonah, held my hand until we left and said that he was “ok” with us leaving but acted differently. He is the smartest little guy, caring for others, looking for ways to help, and loving his daddy…. already wanting to be quizzed in english and seriously, no kidding… brought a math book to Matt to practice! Can you believe it?

I just have to say, this was my prayer this morning….

“show me your ways oh Lord, teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God and Savior,

And my hope is in you all day long….”psalm 25:5-6

Pray for Fitsum- he is anxious!

Love you all.

Amanda & Matt

Ps…. Yo yo’s- big kisses from us, you’re going to love your brothers, we can see you together already. We can’t wait till Friday.

What could be better than waking up to a macchiato. Brought to your room by the sweetest Ethiopian man. His name – we think – is Wadasa. His smile is contagious and lights up the room. When he knocks, you can barely hear it. You have to listen very carefully.

Our day was full today. Shopping, some sight seeing – and we went to the most beautiful park in the hills. Not sure, but it was some sort of plantation and the old house is still on the property. Now they show art in the house and we were able to meet one of the artists. He showed us all of his work including one piece that took him an entire year to make.

The highlight of the day was meeting the director of Bethazata Children’s Home that the boys went to before they went to All God’s Children. It is run by a man named Samuel and we were able to spend about an hour with him. It was a gift to hear him talk about his philosophy on the children of Ethiopia and what he thinks about adoption.

We were grateful that we both believe that if the family can be given assistance, it is better for the children to be with their family. However, circumstances can be such where assistance cannot help and then adoption is the best alternative. He also provides assistance for families and gives them monthly provisions so they are able to keep their family together. He also seeks to get the church involved with the community. He is a leader in his own church, but people aren’t interested in helping the poor. He said that people in Addis don’t even come to the home to provide any help.

He gave up a successful marketing career at the Sheraton (big hotel here) to start this ministry nearly 15 years ago.

We also visited Ethiopia Reads – a Denver Based organization – that started the first children’s library in Ethiopia. Their main goal is to start libraries in schools around Addis Ababa and Awasa. You’d be amazed at all the books. Amanda even found her favorite childhood book on horses. Another part of their ministry is to provide safe jobs for young girls to help at the compound – which also teaches them the skill of reading. We met a young American boy (12) who is spending his summer in Addis to teach other children how to read English.

We were at an art gallery today and ran into a woman that started a bible school in Awasa. They have trained more than 400 pastors to reach out to the muslim community.

So, today has been a day filled with hope for Addis.

The Lord is working here. We are thankful to have seen it with our own eyes and heard with our own ears.

The body of Christ is at work.

Blessings – M & A

Shout out to Abigail…. The doro-wat was too good tonight. We’ll make it when we get home J we thought of you all through dinner.

Day one cont…

The afternoon – it rained. And rained. After spending nearly an hour trying to email my sister to post on our blog, we headed out of the “dial up” café. Our driver had a “burger” and we shared a hummus sandwich…. Go figure?

We’ve been to a few markets and we ended up at Kaldi’s coffee…does the sign remind you of anything? Pretty funny.

I think that the highlight has been the beautiful kids- dirty or clean, clothed or not, begging or playing, they are simply breathtaking. We love to see them smile. So, it’s been helpful to have a candy. Amanda gave one boy a fruit cup and he looked at it like it was the first time he had seen anything like it. Our driver told him what it was and then other kids started asking for one too. Lots of smiles.

Thank you for praying - we are blessed!

Already looking forward to bed and have been for 9 hours, despite 3 coffees.

Love from Addis, Matt and Amanda.

We are having a great day today.  We were met by our driver who is
most excellent.  He was supposed to meet us at the airport last night
but there was a mix up.  Well, the Lord provided and our agency (All
God's Children) sent someone to pick us up and they were waiting when
we got off the plane.  Nice work Lord!  He is the master of covering
the bases.  The mix up was solved before we even knew about it.

We started our morning with the strongest coffee made on earth (but
very good).  We drove around the village that Jonah and Fits are from
and the orthodox church in their neighborhood (see photo).  Then we
were off to AHOPE (a children's home for AIDS babies).  This is the
place that Abby is doing her triathlon for.  See photo of amanda and
the three babies.  They just lit up when we walked in.  the care is
amazing for these kids.  they are truly loved on.

Next we went to a small shop and then off to see little Bedlu - a
friends baby that they are adopting.  We had to make two stops and
several phone calls to even figure out where the orphange was.  We met
these two boys on the street.  We gave them pens and crackers - which
they enjoyed.

It's just 1:41 in the afternoon...and we've had a full day!

Thankful for a safe trip and thankful for Ephraim our driver.

We said our goodbyes and with 8 bags (about 350 lbs total) we headed towards the airport. Right from the start...a feeling of needing help! An Ethiopian man asked to help us...so kind.

We had a smooth flight and are now sitting in Dulles International. So about 1 hour ago, our trip really started. With 4 1/2 hours till our flight left, we sauntered to our gate. With five people in line, it took an hour to get to the counter to get our ticket and face this:



this scale is not our friend. we found out we had a 15 lb weight limit for each of our carry-ons. well, one was 43 and the other 35ish. not good. so, now those bags have been sent to the bottom of the plane. again, we smile and recite: blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape. we've got our gumby game faces on.

m

so here it is... the schedule as it might go but we do head out with this motto "for the flexible shall not be bent out of shape."

early, early, did i say early this morning.... 4 am to be exact my baby sister had her 3rd baby.
after many of hours and 4 labor coaches later, the most beautiful event happened. sweet baldwin baby #3 was born into this world and our hearts forever.

he was a whopping 9 pounds 6 ounces and 21 inches long.
his name to be shared later.

joy unexplainable to witness life being born and God's amazing blessing!
children truly are a gift!

Today was the day that our agency told the boys that we are coming to get them..... so they have one week- how much can a 4 1/2 and 2 year old process such a huge change?

seriously. That's big!

In just one week from today we will be together, for the week, the month, the rest of our lives.
Can't wait to smell them, touch their skin, hear their laughs, their voices, tell them the one and only phrase that I can seem to remember in Amharic "a-weud-de-hal-lo"= I love you!

love to you-
amanda

we got "the" call yesterday...the "come get your kids" call. totally expected, but somehow it was surprising. i guess its like the people that say every year, "wow, didn't christmas come early this year?" to that i say - "doesn't christmas always come at the same time?" well, right back at me i guess.

so in a day we went from DEFCON 3 to DEFCON 1. In other words, we're getting ready, really fast. Not sure about you, but 8 days notice to get your "stuff" together for this particular trip is a bit outside the comfort zone.

Oh, and funny thing happened on the way downstairs - more leaks. some of you might know about our house issues at the moment. i guess we can just add the three leaks downstairs that miraculously appeared on our punch list.

So, i think that they should add something to the murphy's law list about this house - whatever should be easy will end up complicated.

can't wait to leave and get there. we plan on leaving the 24th back the 3rd!

m

Yesterday was a great day! Our boys - Jonah (4 1/2) & Fits (2) passed through court. We are so grateful to Him from who all good things come.

"It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Deut. 31:8

So, now the reality sets in. After waiting four weeks, we got "soft". The anticipation that we were experiencing diminished and we began getting used to the feeling that we were going to get them later, much later. Well, all of the sudden, we are awaiting our travel date and are hopeful that we will travel in just three weeks.

Amazing.

- Matt